Notebooks

(lk) In Korea wird ein enormer Wert auf Bildung gelegt. Das bedeutet nicht, dass das mit unserer Vorstellung von Bildung übereinstimmt. Aber Fremdsprachen sind zumindest theoretisch wichtig, vor allem Englisch. Bei uns im Wohnheim gibt es Englischkurse, die bis 11 in der Nacht gehen. Arbeitgeber verlangen hier häufig von den koreanischen Bewerbern gute Testergebnisse in verschiedenen international anerkannten Sprachtests.                         

Vielleicht ist die Tatsache, dass das Erlernen des Englischen hier in Korea besonders für die junge Leute so wichtig ist die Erklärung für das folgende Phänomen: interessante Sprüche in Englischer Sprache, die sich vor allem auf Büroartikeln wiederfinden und zwar überall. Es ist nicht möglich einen einfachen Spiralblock zu kaufen, auf dem sich nicht eine Weisheit findet.

Ob es das erklärte Ziel ist mit Hilfe dieser Sprüche ein passives Lernen in Gang zu setzten, ich weiß es nicht.

Im Folgenden eine kleine Auswahl von besonders schönen Sprüchen, die sich allesamt auf Spiralblöcken, Heftern, etc. finden.      

Das rechte Bild gehört zu dem Block, der oben abgebildet ist. "THE PREPPY NOTEBOOK". Am unteren Rand sind die Tugenden des koreanischen Studenten zu finden.                                                                                                                       

Man möchte sich fragen, was ein "Free Note Book" ist? Noch zu haben? Unbeschrieben?

Sehr beliebt sind auch europäische Motive...

...oder richtig deutsche. Ich glaube der Spruch auf diesem Block hatte mit Neuschwanstein nicht das Geringste zutun haben.

Natürlich ist es auch ganz wichtig süß zu sein. Ich glaube die links zu sehenden Motive sind japanischen Ursprungs. 

Zweifellos mein Favorit. Ein Hefter, der sich im Besitzt Susans befindet. Die Deutung dieser massiv sinnfreien Wortansammlung ist uns noch nicht gelungen. 

EATING BANANAS WILL LEAVE POWER!!!

Chuseok - being free from Keli again - Part III

Being free from KELI again - Seoul

(lk) Als Abschluss unserer kleinen Serie "Wir sind international und sprechen Englisch" folgt nun der Abschluss unseres Chuseok-Urlaubs. Carsons und mein Trip nach Seoul. Susan und Mai-Linh konnten uns leider nicht in die Hauptstadt Südkoreas begleiten, die Uni schiebt ab und an recht kurzfristig Klausuren und andere Dinge in den Alltag. So sind Carson und ich zu zweit in die Metropole am Han (das ist der Fluss der durch Seoul fließt) gegangen. Nachfolgend nun die Beschreibung einer kleinen Episode die wir dort erlebt haben - mit Hintergrundanalyse - und dann noch einige andere Eindrücke.

Die Insadong-gil in Seoul (gil bedeutet Straße). Wie man sieht generell sehr gut besucht und natürlich auch ein sehr beliebtes Ziel für Touristen. Viel Leben, viele Cafés und Kunstgalerien finden sich in dieser Straße.

With a friend of mine, I visited Seoul one month ago. In the attempt to get a rough overview of the city, we did not hesitate to visit some of the rather touristy sights. So, one afternoon, we found ourselves standing in the middle of the famous Insadong-gil. The place was absolutely crowded, but still the atmosphere was very nice walking along the cafés, small shops and art galleries. Later on, we found a group of Korean schoolgirls, standing at the side of the street. As they saw us – easily identifiable as foreigners - they approached us and asked us to take part in a small quiz. We answered some questions on South Korea (What is the capital and so on) and in the end, as a prize, got some candies. Such quizzes by students can frequently be seen here in Korea. However, at this day in Insadong-gil, the quiz had a rather interesting feature. As the quiz was over, one of the girls – maybe 14 years old – asked us with an impressive level of English: “Have you heard about Dok-do.” We said yes. The girl went on to explain that Dok-do was an island in the sea between Japan and South Korea and that both states claim the island to be theirs. She finished by saying: “Please keep in mind, Dok-do is Korean territory.” This occurrence left me intrigued.

  

Nochmal Insadong-gil, ein kleines Video. Wieder einmal entschuldige ich mich für die doofen Streifen im Bild. 

As a German I cannot think of German pupils going on the street and telling non-Germans that the German government hands too much of its power to the EU. Or may it be some other political issue; the commitment of these schoolgirls in Seoul simply fascinated me. I don’t know if this quiz was a regular school activity or if the students did it during their spare time. Either way, they didn’t seem to be uncomfortable with their task. Did we encounter 14 year old school girls who were so angry about the Japanese points for claiming Dok-do as their territory that they just had to go on the street? When they told us that Dok-do is Korean territory, did they base their statement on a broad study of the history of the island? Of course this is possible, but it seems to be more reasonable to see these girls behaviour against the background of the very emotional relationship between Korea and Japan. If you ask yourself, why this relationship is so tense, you can study the history of Korean-Japanese relations. Once in Insadong-gil you instead have the option to walk 500 meters to the Gyeongbokgung, one of the five palaces in Seoul.

Zwischen Korea und Japan herrscht seit Jahrzehnten ein Streit um territoriale Ansprüche. Die Felsformation Dok-do (koreanischer Name) bzw.  Takeshima (japanischer Name) in den Gewässern zwischen Japan und Korea wird von beiden Staaten beansprucht. Das Meer, in dem diese kleinen felsigen Eilande liegen wird von den Japanern übrigens Japanisches Meer genannt, von den Koreanern hingegen Ostmeer. Die Auseinandersetzung um die Inseln ist hier in Korea allgegenwärtig, links sieht man ein Modell von ihnen - ausgestellt in einer der U-Bahnstationen Seouls.

A short look at the history of this palace can help you understand, why you can find schoolgirls in Seoul, explaining you that Dok-do does not belong to Japan. Gyeongbokgung is located in central Seoul. In this area, five palace complexes can be found. According to the brochure I got there, the name Gyeonbokgung can be translated as “Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven”. The location couldn’t be more central. Today, the American embassy is right around the corner. The statues of King Sejong the Great (he ordered the invention of an own Korean phonetic script, known as the Hangeul) and Admiral Yi (he fought against the Japanese in the 16^th century) are located on the street running south from the palace entrance. To the north of the palace, the mountain Bugaksam makes the appearance all the more beautiful. But not only the location of this palace is extraordinary. It was built in 1395 right after the founding of the Joseon Dynasty. From the beginning it was the main palace for this dynasty and was a symbol of power for the kings of Joseon. Over the years, the complex of buildings steadily expanded. Around 1553, a fire destroyed large parts of the palace complex, though the buildings were restored soon after.

Der Haupteingang des Gyeonbukgung Palastes in Seoul. Im Hintergrund sieht man die Stadt, die die umfangreiche Palastanlage einschließt. 

 Der Hauptthronsaal 

Im Norden des Palastes beginnt ein malerischer Höhenzug.

However in 1592, we have to introduce a new element to the history of this sight, and this element brings us back to where we started: Schoolgirls in the Insadong-gil in Seoul emphasizing the Korean property of Dok-do. In 1592, Japan starts it invasion of Korea. For seven years Japan tried to conquer the kingdom of Joseon. In the end the Japanese failed, however they managed to destroy large parts of the country. In 1592, Japanese troops also came to Seoul and destroyed Gyeongbokgung. As you remember, in the years after 1553 the palace had just been rebuilt in the wake of a fire. But in the end it was for nothing, as the Japanese would destroy it again. Since the middle of the 16^th century “Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven” was no longer a fitting name for this palace.

After some years, Korea was able to defeat the Japanese, not before a large part of the country lay in ruins. The palace would remain in ruins for the next 300 years. In 1867, the Joseon Dynasty decided to start a restoration. For some years, the royal family lived again in the palace that had been built as the first and most important of all the palaces in Seoul.

But again, the “Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven” could not keep the promises made by its name. In 1895 the wife of King Gojong – 26th king of the Joseon Dynasty – was murdered in Gyeongbokgung. Her name was Myeongseong, also referred to as Queen Min. She was one of the members of the Korean royal court who opposed the Japanese expansion the most, leading to her assassination in 1895 by Japanese agents. After this incident the royal family never returned to the palace Gyeongbokgung. In 1910, Korea was annexed by Japan and starting in 1915, the palace was once again torn down by Japanese forces. Around 90 percent of the buildings were dismantled during the Japanese reign in Korea. After the end of the Korean War, it took until 1990 to start the restoration of this historic sight. For the second time in history, the Koreans were rebuilding what the Japanese had torn down. Today, only around 40 percent of the once existing buildings have been restored.

Parts of the palace’s history can still be seen today. When you enter the gate, you find yourself in a very large complex of buildings. Although, everything is new, the oldest parts are around 150 years old. Not much for a palace which was built in 1395. You can see wide fields where restoration is still going on and not finished yet.

Palastwachen und Koreanerinnen beim Posieren. Der Bart ist nicht echt. 

Each day the guards at the large gate in the south – the Gwanghwamun – are changing several times, performing a sophisticated ceremony thereby. But what are they taking care of? Their fancy dresses and their fake Korean beards gave me an odd impression. As there are no Korean monarchs anymore and the Gyeongbokgung had been destroyed several times, the palace should rather be seen as a symbol for the tragic parts of the history of Joseon Korea. But the guards are doing their daily routine - entertaining the masses of tourists. At its heart, one could say these pseudo Joseon soldiers take care of a sight whose history was rather written by Japan, than by Korea. 

After seeing this place I had to think of the schoolgirls in the Insadong-gil. I tried to think of the some European country doing the same as Japan did to the Gyeongbokgung palace with an important German historical sight. Maybe the Korean schoolgirls did not know anything about the history of Gyeongbokgung. But when you consider that this was only the history of a palace and that there must have been much more the Japanese did to the Koreans, their behaviour seemed to me more understandable. The resentment of the Koreans towards Japanese is rooted in history, just as the history of the Gyeonbokgung.

In der Nähe des Palastes befindet sich ein Statue König Sejongs. Er war maßgeblich an der Erfindung des heute verwendeten koreanischen Schriftsystems Hangeul beteiligt, wenn vielleicht auch nur als  Strippenzieher, der die richtigen Leute zusammenbrachte. Die Schriftzeichen auf dem Sockel sind zu lesen als: "Sejong Daeoang" = König Sejong. 

Der kantige Kerl links von der koreanischen Flagge ist Admiral Yi, ein Kriegsheld aus dem 16. Jahrhundert. Es lag nicht zuletzt an seinem strategischen Geschick, dass Japan mit seinem Invasionsversuch scheiterte. 

Christentum hat hier viel mehr zu bieten als bei uns :-) Und ist auch überall anzutreffen. Wir haben hier Stände von irgendwelchen Christen angetroffen, an denen vor den Gefahren der Hölle gewarnt wird und in der U-Bahn kann einem auch schon mal ein netter alter Herr mit der aufgeschlagenen Bibel entgegen kommen. 

Mittagspause in Seoul. Um diese Zeit füllen sich die Straßen mit Männern und Frauen in schwarzer Büromontur. Hier steht man bei einem Coffeeshop an. Detail: Der Mann ganz rechts telefoniert und massiert dabei dem  Kollegen vor ihm den Nacken. 

 Eine Kampfkunstshow mit viel Elan. 

In der Garage steht ein Volvo. 

Eines der vielen Hähnchenrestaurants in Korea. Frittiertes Hähnchen ist ein integraler Bestandteil der Esskultur hier, der jungen versteht sich. Abends im Wohnheim greift man skrupellos auf den Chicken-Lieferservice zurück oder geht ins Restaurant wie hier in Seoul. Detail: nix Messer und Gabel, zwei Gabeln sind oftmals das Werkzeug der Wahl. 

Gangnam bei Nacht. Das ist er also, der Stadtteil der in PSYs Gangnam Style besungen wird. Es ist dort hell und lebendig, alles ist neu und modern, ein Viertel mit vielen neuen Hochhäusern und viel Geld. "Gangnam" bedeutet wörtlich übersetzt soviel wie "Südlich des Flusses" (meine ich zumindest). Das Viertel ist darum recht leicht auf einem Stadtplan von Seoul zu finden, nämlich südlich des Han-Flusses.

Mit Ozan, einem Türken der gerade in Shanghai studiert, waren wir zwei Tage unterwegs. Hier in einer Bar in Gangnam, in der Makgeolli serviert wird. Das ist koreanischer Reiswein und schmeckt meiner Meinung nach etwa so wie Apfelwein. Sehr erfrischend. 

Als Beilage gab es Äpfel mit Mayonaise und Larven.

Last but not least: ein gütiges Schicksal wollte es, dass Carson und ich doch tatsächlich zu dem Zeitpunkt in Seoul waren, als PSY ein Gratiskonzert in der Innenstadt gab. 80.000 Leute, zwei Stunden Liveshow, alles umsonst, was will man mehr. Hier ein kleiner Ausschnitt des wichtigsten Momentes

Chuseok - being free from Keli again - Part II

Chuseok - being free from Keli again - Jinju

(suh) Chuseok was soon to come, so my friends and I spent four weeks planning where to go and what to do. Despite having so much time, we simply could not make up our minds. Shall we go to Jeju island along with the rest of the foreigners? The weather was still warm through the early autumn days and enjoying the holidays soaking on a beach in the island sun wasn't a bad idea. Or would we rather venture to Seoul where everyday life moves at a frantic pace in the midst of a vibrant metropolis? Perhaps it would be best to simply stay in Daegu, exploring the beautiful mountains and the unknowns of the city.

We soon realised Chuseok was far too short toexperience and try out everything we desired to see in this wonderful, flourishing country. Since we couldn't reach an agreement on what to do, we focused on finding what in common we desired from this trip. So we all got stroke by the idea of trying something traditional. But celebrating Chuseok as Koreans do is easier said than done as this would mean going home to our families. This was obviously no option so we kept on asking Koreans where they usually go and how they make themselves a pleasant time. After questioning numerous native Koreans, we soon got a list of the best places to see over our holiday. After several hours of planning and budgeting, we narrowed down our list. One particular location quickly caught our eye: Jinju.

          Jinju is a relatively small city with 350,000 inhabitants. On the surface, it doesn’t seem to have much on offer in the eyes of a tourist. The city centre is nothing spectacular and the two museums would bore you to death before giving you any sort of insight into Jinju’s  history and culture. Annually, however, Jinju breaks it mold, transforming into a seemingly magical show of light. Jinji becomes a truly breathtaking place, taking one back to the roots of its history and an enchanting view on the glistening bank of the Namgang.

Every year, the spectacular show takes place for fourteen days beginning on October 3^rd, immediately following Chuseok. The Jinju Yudeung Festival is held to commemorate the  victory of the Korean forces at the second Battle of Jinjuseong. The patriotic spirit of the 70,000 who died defending their country hand down the tradition of Yudeung. Thus, the history of the festival spans back to the 1592 Japanese invasion of Korea when Jinju's vital surrounding wall was in danger. General Kim Si Min and his troops used pungdeung and other lamplights in both the Namgang river or into the sky as a signal requesting support of nearby forces. These lanterns apparently stopped Japanese invaders from crossing the river and gave Sin Min Gim enough time to adaquetly prepare his troops for the Japanese attack.  Since the majority of the soldiers’ families lived beyond the safety of the castle walls, they  lanterns to their dear ones as well, hoping to last through the hard and uncertain times of violence, solitude and fear that lay ahead. In remembrance and honour the fallen troops, this tradition has continued as the people of Jinju annually drift their lovely handmade lanterns down the Namgang, each with a personal wish.

It was the late afternoon when we reached Jinju and apart from a few paper puppets was barely anything to see that gave us the impression of a great event which was going to be hold that night. However, at this time this was of least interest to all of us as we didn’t know where we were going to sleep at night. All the motels were either already booked out or the  remained accommodations were nearly unaffordable for a poor students’ budget like ours. 

So we went to the tourist centre and asked for help. The friendly looking woman behind the desk quickly understood our problem and kindly recommended us a so called Jimjilbang. Well, yes we said we wanted to experience the Korean culture to the fullest but not knowing what I had to expect I’m not entirely sure which one was actually the greater experience – the night in the Jimjilbang or the lantern festival. However, only twenty minutes away by walk we finally reach the Korean Spa which was as predicted really cheap – only 8000 Won to spend a night there. So we dropped our stuff and headed quickly to the festival.

Ein Tunnel von erleuchteten Laternen - ein Tunnel von Wünschen und Hoffnungen.

Twilight has come and the moon golden glowing in his fully round shape was already up high in the sky by the time we got there. Jinju suddenly presented itself in its entire beauty: It totally blew our mind seeing how this little city and the Namgang River turned into a breathtaking miracle landscape resplendent in thousands of colours and enchanting lights! Big figures were built up all over the place showing the troops of the Jinjuseong Battle and reminding of former times. These figures also gave a good insight of Korean traditions, its rich fauna and flora and its impressive art and craft work. 

Not just figures in human shape were built up, even the temple were enlightened by an uncountable amount of lights. But not only the past were presented! The river Namgang showed the multicultural connection of Korea to each country with Vietnamese women in their traditional clothes, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Chinese Dragons, German windmills and so on. 

So we were walking along the river bank enjoying the wonderful sight of colours and lights as we suddenly saw little lovely self made paper lanterns swimming down the river. All of them had notes attached which seemed to be wishes and hopes for the future. We wanted to do that! What a wonderful reminiscence would it be seeing our personal wish flowing down Namgang, too and knowing to have been part of this fantastic old Korean tradition. So we all made a little lantern ourselves, tried to be as creative as Germans could possibly be and attached our hopes and wishes for our family as Koreans already did it 400 years ago. Deeply touched and inspired of the atmosphere of this whole festival we sent them down the river hoping our wishes will come true.

As all of this wouldn’t have been enough we suddenly heart several bangs and reports. We looked into the sky and an amazing firework had just started exploding into all kinds of colours. Everyone marvelled at the flashing lights and the crowd turned into a choir of “Ahhhs” and “Ohhhs”. And so did we, too.

Ahhhhh! Ohhhhh! Aaaaah!

Die Koreaner sind manchmal schon ein witziges Völcken.  Eigentlich hätte man das ja mal aufnehmen müssen. Sie sind ja schon irgendwie süß, mit ihrem Hang zur expressiven gemeinschaftlichen Begeisterung. 






Eines muss man ihnen allerdings lassen: Das Feuerwerk war wirklich eines der schönsten, die ich bisher gesehen habe. Da kann ihnen keiner so schnell was nachmachen, an Kreativität hat es ihnen dabei nicht gemangelt. Vielleicht gibt es aus diesem Grund in Deutschland immer nur ein müdes "Ooh" zu hören..






Als könnte es auch irgendwie anders sein.. Essen und trinken, Süßes und Salziges, eigenartige, sowie unwiderstehliche Köstlichkeiten gab es natürlich auch hier an jeder Ecke. Da bekommen auch kleine Kinder ganz große Augen bei solch riesigen Maiskolben.








Eine erleuchtete Kürbiskutsche. Eigentlich wollte ich mit Mai ja ein wenig Zweisamkeit genießen, aber die Herrschaften mussten ja natürlich wieder dazwischen funken..










Ein wenig Patriotismus ist natürlich auch immer dabei. Aber das sieht man hier ja gerne..













Der Fluss Namgang hell erleuchtet mit tausenden von farbenfrohen Lichtern. 


Ich vermute, Kinder haben diese Laternen selbst gebastelt. Leider kann man auf dem Foto nicht ganz erkennen, was sie alles dargestellt haben. Unter anderem war hier nämlich auch Google, I-phone, Zigaretten, Spongebob, "Angry Birds" und Geld aufzufinden. Was das wohl über die Wünsche der heutigen Jugend in Korea aussagt..? Naja, das mal außen vor gelassen, zeigt der Rest natürlich eine unbeschreibliche Vielfalt an Kunstwerken anderer Art - wunderschön, inspirierend, modern, abstrakt, verträumt. Und alles in einem einfach atemberaubend schön!

Ich war's nicht! Ich schwör's! Ich käme niemals auf die Idee in einer Umkleide einfach Bilder zu machen. Mai Linh war diejenige, die der Verlockung wiedermal nicht widerstehen konnte. Das Bild ist natürlich verschwommen, denn es wurde ja in Windeseile, aus Angst vor einem Moralapostel erwischt zu werden, unerlaubter Weise aufgenommen. Dafür sieht man auf man darauf  wenigstens die schönen Kutten, die man für den Spa bekommt. Den Bikini kann man hier also getrost zu Hause lassen, das sexy Badeoutfit ala Sträflingsgemeinschaftsdress wird hier vor Ort bereit gestellt.

Tiered from strolling around and by getting overwhelmed of all these new impression of Korean culture and traditions we thought it would be time to head back to our place to hit the hay – the Jimjilbang. It was kind of weird to see that people obviously still go there washing themselves, having a bath or relaxing in the sauna even it’s already in the middle of the night. But this is a Spa so where were we supposed to sleep? In some corner in a sauna? This can’t be true! So we had a look around and out of the blue we happened to stumble over a mass of people sleeping, snoozing and snoring! All of them were lying on the ground, totally relaxed and comfortable with themselves. As they covered nearly every space it was hard to make our way through them and nearly impossible not to step at least on each second one. Seeing this, all of us looked a little baffled not knowing where to go and what to think of it. So we wondered where all these people came from? 

And why they were not sleeping at  their home or why they were not going to a hotel? Could it possibly be true that this is a common way for Koreans to have a cheap overnight stay?And still we hadn’t found a solution to our problem yet: Where are we going to sleep?  In the mist of all these strangers squeezed in right next to each other leaning on somebody’s body which I don’t know at all? 

Typisch koreanisch? Wirklich?

Anscheinend schon. Da liegen sie alle auf dem Boden gemeinsam, aneinander gereiht wie die Sardinen, dösen und schlafen. Naja, 8 000 Won ist ja wirklich spottbillig, aber .. wirklich jetzt?

Man kann sich gar nicht vorstellen wie viele Menschen in diesen Räumen lagen. Als wäre der Krieg ausgebrochen und alle würden nun gemeinsam in einem Bunker nächtigen müssen. Noch viel passender dazu ist natürlich das Nachtgewand: Für Frauen rot, für Männer grün. Ein wenig Notstands- und Gefängnisflair kommt da schon auf. Allerdings will ich das hier gar nicht schlecht reden, denn praktisch, günstig und komfortabel ist es allemal! Und für Backpacker wie uns einfach nur ideal! Ein wenig eigenartig und gewöhnungsbedürftig ist diese Art von Unterkunft zwar allerdings schon, aber definitiv eine Erfahrung wert. 

Well, yes we said we wanted to experience the Korean culture to the fullest but to be honest, no one of us expected this as some kind of traditional accommodation! But at least we wanted to give it a try so we were looking for a nice little space where we almost could fit in. Resting there for several minutes, we surprisingly didn’t mind at all laying so close to these other people. The only thing that kept us awake was finally the heat which seemed to rise with every second. We couldn’t stand that through, this was far too hot! So we got up and started wandering around again. We had a look in each room we could find but all of them were stuffed with people and steaming for heat. We made our way through the whole building and finally reached the last stage where we found an empty wide roof top. The moon was still shining and from there we had a wonderful view over the lights of the city. So we nestled down in our blankets, snuggled up to each other and slept peacefully in the shine of the full moon.